Keep Your Friends Close and Your Muffins Closer
by Tre Cool 1039
Summary: Evasive Cloud, a young pegasus thought all he would ever do was work on the weather team and nothing else. But with the help of his best friend, a wall eyed mare, and her friend, The Doctor, he'll find out firsthand how much more to life there is, and how the Friendship you give is never forgotten.
1. Evasive

"Hey, where's Evasive? He's supposed to be here."

"He's probably running late again."

"Great, why are we covering for him again?"

It hadn't been an easy day for flying, but work needed to be done, Evasive headed for the skies as fast as his wings could take him. He saw the red sunrise and flew faster. Evasive stared up into the red sunrise. His eyes glimmered with hope as he flew up to his post at the Cloudsdale weather team.

"It's alright guys, I'm here, what's up?"

"What's up?" Stern Light, his boss, wasn't exactly in the mood for small talk apparently.

"We need these clouds out of here Vase, how about you save the small talk for later and get moving! Where have you been?"

The stallion mumbled incoherently and looked at the ground, he had always had trouble interacting and dealing with other ponies. He looked away for a minute before finally answering.

"Umm..."

"You okay?" Stern Light knew he had put him on the spot again and tried to reason with him without being too intimidating.

"Yes, um, I was just, umm..." Evasive was desperately thinking for a way to get out of this conversation, but found he couldn't.

"I pay you to move these clouds, not to come late. Don't let it happen again." Stern Light said clearly.

"Y-y-yessir." Evasive quickly got out.

"Boss, give him a break, and besides, you hardly pay us at all." Agile Skies, one of Evasive's best friends said.

"Stow it. Get to work Agile." Stern Light snapped.

Man I wish I was faster, Evasive thought to himself as he got to work.

Later, as he moved the clouds he found himself down so he began humming the tune to a Filly Fighters song, 'Learn to Fly,' which put him in a better mood. Evasive worked hard as he flew and decided to move away from the other pegasi so he could be alone. He continued clearing the skies for a couple hours. Internally, he wanted to go home early so he could go spend some more time in Ponyville, a place he liked to be around, he felt, there was no friendlier place in Equestria. As he kept daydreaming and moving clouds, he realized he was on a crash course with somepony.

"Woah! Careful Vase, watch it."

"Oh, sorry, my bad." Evasive managed to avoid hitting him, and stuttered out a quick apology.

"You okay?" Agile asked

"Oh yes, I just couldn't where I was going."

Agile snickered, "Yeah, I've heard that one before, what's bothering you?"

Evasive sighed, this was Agile, he thought, the only pegasus who's known you since school, other then her of course.

"Well, um. I-"

Agile laughed, "It's alright buddy, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Evasive blushed, he knew him a bit more than he let on.

"Yeah, I'm just restless, I want to walk around Ponyville again." he said.

"Hah! You are obsessed with that place, you know that?" Agile retorted jokingly.

Agile quickly slapped him on the back to get him moving, "Come on, let's get back to work, I don't like getting yelled at."

Evasive nodded quickly, "Alright, You got it."

Later, after they finished, Evasive started to fly off when he suddenly heard Agile's voice.

"Hey Vase! You headed somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm... Y'know.."

"Sweet, I'm coming too. I need to meet up with somepony there anyway.

Evasive had walked this road what he felt was a thousand times, Ponyville, he loved the city, the ponies, the friendships, the diversity, he had heard all about how the Elements of Harmony had lived here and had saved Equestria countless times. He felt they were heroes, but he admired how they always seemed to want to be thought of as 'normal' and never think of themselves as above anyone. Just like real heroes should, he thought.

Especially their newest element of harmony, Dusk Noir was it? He felt like he was a real addition to their group. The way he acted just seemed to somehow keep the seven of them calm, collected, and together. _Duh._ Evasive thought to himself, _He's the element of Unity, dummy_. Evasive thought in spite of himself, talking to himself was one of his odd habits, but he didn't mind, he read somewhere it was a sign of intelligence, though he couldn't remember where exactly, he did remember reading it SOMEwhere

And that was good enough for him.

Suddenly they came to the place Agile needed to be, Evasive kept looking to the sky, as if scanning for something.

"-So I was just going to just turn and leave, and that's when she-"

"Hm?" Evasive quickly turned his head and pretended like he'd been listening, even though he knew Agile would see right through him.

"Were you listening to anything I just said?"

"uhh, Yeah?"

"Well what was I talking about?" Agile responded with a cold, yet knowing look.

"Ummm... your... marefriend?" he asked unsurely.

"Good one," he chuckled.

"Oh, sorry I was-"

"You were 'out there', I get it." Agile said as he motioned to an imaginary plane of existence.

"What? You think I don't know you do that? How long have I known you again?" he continued.

Evasive rolled his eyes "Okay, thanks."

"Sorry Vase, gotta pick up some stuff. This is where we depart."

"Huh? Oh um... Is this the place?"

Agile laughed, "Yeap,"

Agile mock saluted Evasive and headed in for Celestia knew how long, he decided it was time to go home and collect himself, it had been a long day at work and he was tired.

Evasive walked through the doorway and into his home, it was a nice home, at least he felt it was nice, it was a bit compacted, but he felt it suited him. A comfy bed laid across the hall, and a shelf for books and other belongings. The walls were plastered with posters of his favorite bands, the Filly Fighters, Green Neigh, and Neighvana. He gained an interest in rock music a long time ago as a colt struggling with a divorce and not feeling like he had many friends at all. He loved the energy of the melody, and the power behind the sound, it felt like he was given the energy to fly a hundred times around the city. It made him in a sense, free.

A little pegasus colt growing up in many different places, Las Pegasus, Cloudsdale, he was always very friendly with his classmates, and even though he was admired by some, as he was always good at most sports, he never felt it inside. He was never social, almost always interacting only when he had to.

And acting only when he had to, one of these rare occurrences would be whenever he saw someone being hurt or threatened, usually by someone else. He especially remembered when one poor mare was being bullied because she had a condition that made her wall-eyed, it made him so sad that she would be bullied for something so trivial as that. He could remember the rage he felt that day when her tormentors started acting with more malice than ever before.

 ** _Look at her eyes!_**

 ** _They're so weird._**

 ** _Freak._**

He could feel the anger rise up when she started to tear up at their taunts, her sobbing echoing in his mind causing him to tear up a little too.

 _Stop it. She's just different._

 ** _She's such a freak of nature. No wonder she has no friends._**

 _Just stop._

He thought about losing all composure and control and just lunging at them all, wailing on them and beating them until they stopped, but he couldn't, no matter how angry he got he wouldn't let himself loose. He would've torn them apart and he wanted to let them know it, but somehow he couldn't. He just didn't have the courage.

She was gone, probably somewhere she could be alone. He cursed and chastised himself mentally as her tormentors left. He couldn't stand up for a poor mare who was being harassed. How pathetic was he?

She was sobbing, crying her eyes out, it felt like she had had this happen to her before, but never before like this. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, showing himself.

"Hello?"

She stopped crying for a minute and turned to face him, her blonde mane was unkempt and ragged, her eyes bright red from the tears that fell and her face looked so worn down, it was almost too much, but he stood his ground, he wanted to help her didn't he?

"Are... Are you alright?"

 _What a stupid question_ he thought to himself, _How do you think she feels? Some help you are._

After wiping some of her tears away, she sniffed and responded.

"I think so."

He inched closer, trying to appear friendly.

"Are you sure?" he asked genuinely.

"Oh. They... They do that a lot. I'm used to it." she sighed, it broke his heart to see her like this, so sad, yet so accepting of such cruel treatment. Like she had faced this all her life.

"I'm sorry they have to be that way. I really, really am." he said sincerely.

"It doesn't matter anyway, I know I'm useless." she said dryly.

"You are not useless! Don't ever think that." he responded with conviction he didn't even know he had, however he continued gently.

"You're important. Don't let anyone think you're not."

"But... my eyes..." she tried to continue but choked back a sob.

"There's nothing wrong with your eyes, they are what makes _you_ unique. It's nothing to be ashamed of at all." he put his wing on her back and looked her in the eyes. "At. All."

"You.. you don't see them as...as-"

"Not really, I.. actually see them as.. pretty."

He felt unsure, like maybe he said something wrong, he looked around panicked for a minute and tensed away from her, but all doubts went away when she turned to him. She paused for a minute, then smiled, and he felt relieved when he realized he had said something right for once.

"Thank you" she said.

His heart was lifted, he felt good, having helped her. They both smiled.

"What's your name?"

"My name's... Derpy."

"Hello, My name's Evasive."

That was the day he met her, his best friend. Her name was Derpy, but everyone called her Muffins because she loved muffins. He had always loved going down to Ponyville to talk with her about things on her mind, his best friends in Ponyville were Derpy and the Doctor she was always around.

That Doctor was one of the weirdest ponies Vase knew, but he always liked talking with him. He was a quirky pony, but enjoyable to be around. Mainly he liked visiting him because Derpy was always visiting him.

 _I'll visit them again tomorrow, I'm sure the Doctor's in, he always is_. He thought to himself, he was tired, but tomorrow was a new day, full of hope and potential.


	2. There's a Time for Everything

Evasive got up bright and early the next day, stretching his wings and flapping them lightly, before he quickly set out to Ponyville, he was excited to see his friends again, and couldn't wait to pay them a visit. As he flew, a sense of freedom swerved into his insides, and he felt, in a sense, alive.

He hummed a little tune to himself and felt even more invigorated from the feeling. Floating around the clouds was something he always loved, flying through the skies like a tiger, flying at supersonic speeds, it was all so liberating. When he finally reached Ponyville he was in an even better mood than before and touched down to find the Doc. He said hello to anyone passing by and they responded in kind, or vice versa, another part he loved about this town, just how remarkably friendly everyone was. It was almost too much, just how nice everything seemed here.

He kept striding down and came across a nice road to head down, all around him he saw busy ponies going about their daily lives, doing whatever it was that kept them occupied with their time. He felt a connection, like being here made him part of a larger family, just minding his own business. He headed over to the Doctor's house, he had to double back after taking a wrong turn, but he eventually walked over to the right house, he rang the doorbell and waited, however after waiting awhile he realized no one was home. So he walked back into town. Upon finding a place to sit down he was joined by none other than Agile Skies.

"Vase! I knew you'd be here, C'mon, let's go practice, Starburst is free all tonight." Agile told his friend.

"Oh really?" Evasive asked curiously.

"Yeah, he can come, and that means you need to come too. This is a big deal, the tournament starts this week. We need to practice as much as possible." He told him excitedly.

"Sounds good to me." Evasive responded neutrally.

"Plus this will be a good opportunity to get some down time, I hate work. Plus, you get to work on your spin."

"Huh? Oh yeah, cool." Evasive was distracted by a mare walking by.

"Hey! Focus!" Agile yelled.

"What? What did I do?" Evasive quickly defended.

"I need you to be there, this is important. I have a bet going with Blue Star that we'd at least make the second round."

"Really? Why?" Evasive asked, curious.

"Because I needed to, he was ticking me off, and bragging, and… I hate that."

"You have to learn to unwind Agile." Evasive responded softly, "This kind of reckless behavior is exactly what is going to get you in trouble."

"I know but, he deserved it! And I wanna beat him, and, well…" Agile looked at his friend

"Okay, I'll be there, alright? I was planning to anyways." Evasive promised quickly.

"Great, see ya tonight!" Agile zoomed off to the sky.

Later that night Evasive showed up at the Ponyville bowling alley, where several ponies were bowling away, and others were eating, it was a safe haven for Vase since he was able to spend some time with ponies he liked. He saw Agile out of the corner of his eye and walked over.

"Hey Vase! We just got a lane."

"Cool, where's Star?" Evasive asked, looking around for him.

"Right here." A light green furred, gold maned stallion walked up behind them and sat down next to Evasive.

"Can't wait for the tournament guys, I've been looking forward to this for awhile." Starburst said while opening some cider.

Hey Star, did you get me some cider like I asked?" Agile asked bluntly.

"I only got some for me, you can go get some." Starburst said nonchalantly.

"Star, I asked you to get one for me. We're a team, we don't do things by ourselves." Agile said with a slightly deadpan tone.

"Sorry." Starburst shrugged.

"Hey, Agile, so he forgot, no big deal. I'll go get some." Evasive offered.

"Yeah well I expect Star to listen next time when I tell him to get me a cider." Agile pressed.

"What do you want from me? Look, there's only four ponies in line right now." Starburst said.

"Yeah well there'd be no ponies in line if you had just got it like I told you to!" Agile pressed harder.

"Hey look, I'm not your slave okay? I'm your bowling teammate! I don't ask you to buy me a cider okay?" Starburst shouted back.

Evasive facehoofed hard when an earth pony named Thorn walked over and started taunting them.

"Hey guys, are you ready to get killed on the lanes? Cause if this is what I'm up against I might as well start drinking my victory cider now." He chuckled.

"Go away Thorn." Agile said quickly.

"Let me tell you something Skies, if this is how you guys warm up for a game, I might just leave after the 7th frame. Cause that's all I'll need.

"Yeah? Well… Call me when you get a strike Mr- ummm… uh, Mr… gutter… Evasive retorted.

All three looked at Evasive for a while as if he were clinically insane. Evasive shrank back in his seat and took an interest in a magazine next to him.

"Call me when you can come up with a real comeback." Thorn then headed off.

"That creep really grows on you huh?" Agile said.

Starburst gave Evasive a weird look.

"What was that?" he asked wildly.

"I don't know." Evasive responded with a trace of defeat in his tone.

"What were we talking about?" Agile asked Starburst.

"Probably wasn't important." Starburst responded in kind.

Evasive picked up the magazine and began reading it.

The next day Evasive got up bright and early, he flew out into the cold air and headed for work. When he got there at work, he spotted Agile talking with a pegasus named Red Wing. He headed over to work and soon enough Agile saw him.

"There you are Vase! You made it, help me out with this big one." Agile said.

"Sure, sounds good." Evasive said back.

Vase and Agile flew over to the cloud, Agile started going off like he always did.

"So the boss says I might have a future in snowflakes. Can you believe that?" Agile said.

"The boss says a lot of things." Evasive responded.

"Hey that reminds me." Agile kept going. "Why does it have to be gray clouds at this time of year?"

"There's a system in place Agile." Evasive elaborated. "If we shake it up too much than we get written off."

"Yeah but, I mean, shouldn't there be a clear merit as to why the system does things? I mean if it doesn't make sense why do it? Why not just have the weather be the way we feel like it?" Agile asked his friend.

"I have no idea." Evasive pondered. "I think it's because we'd get fired and I'd have to find a job working at some chain retail store that sells toasters and hats."

"Yeah, but, isn't that the trap?" Agile kept on. "We can't question the system because if we do, we get written off or even fired, and if we don't we're subject to a way of doing things we don't understand and no one knows if it makes any sense in the long run."

"Well, I mean, it might make sense, the boss might know why we do things a certain way." Evasive responded.

"Yeah, but he never explains it to us, it's not like we're checked for moral integrity doing this." Agile pressed.

"We're just moving clouds Agile." Evasive said.

"And I'm glad that's all we're doing." Agile responded. "If this were something important like government work for Celestia..."

What are you two doing? Get back to work!" Stern Light yelled.

"Sorry boss!" They said in unison, and both took to moving gray clouds

"He's hiding something." Agile responded after his boss was out of earshot.

"Agile, I think you're overthinking this." Evasive said, uninterested.

"Have it your way Vase, but I don't buy any of this." Agile said confidently.

Evasive sighed and found another cloud to move.


End file.
